According to a statement released by federal officials on Monday, the Trump administration has investigated Harvard University and its prestigious Harvard Law Review, accusing the legal journal of the article selection process that could involve discrimination based on race.
The investigation comes amid President Donald Trump’s wider crackdown on American universities, accusing the promotion of anti-Semitism, anti-white bias and what he calls “gender ideology” by supporting transgender students. Harvard, one of the most outstanding academic institutions in the United States, recently frozen billions of dollars in federal funding after refusing to comply with new federal oversight measures. In response, the university filed a lawsuit against the government last week.
The U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services jointly announced that they received reports on “Journal Membership and Possible Violations of Article Selection Policies and Practices” on Harvard Law Review. Chapter 6 prohibits institutional discrimination that obtains federal funds on a basis of race, color or nationality.
“The article selection process of Harvard Law Review appears to be picking winners and losers based on race,” said Craig Trainer, Assistant Assistant Secretary of Civil Rights at the Department of Education. “The Trump administration will not allow Harvard or any other agency to trample on anyone’s civil rights.”
Founded in 1887, Harvard Law Review is a student-run journal known for publishing influential legal scholarships. Former President Barack Obama served as the journal’s first black president in 1990, a milestone often cited in his political rise.
A Harvard Law School spokesman told AFP the agency is committed to legal compliance and to investigate any reliable allegations of wrongdoing. They also noted that the Harvard legal review operated independently of the law school and mentioned similar 2018 claims that were eventually dismissed.
The investigation comes after Harvard protests for weeks, with students and faculty opposing the Trump administration’s actions. Demonstrators gathered around the John Harvard University statue in Cambridge earlier this month, holding signs and denounced what they believed were politically motivated academic freedom attacks.
